Overpowered Wizard

Chapter 220: B3: C10: I Understand 2

Jack was trying to readjust midair again when he realized how Naomi kept coming at him repeatedly.

No, this wasn’t because of Zarian’s interference.

Naomi was kicking off the cavern walls with so much power she shot herself around fast enough to keep the pressure on Jack.

Every kick off destroyed much of the cavern and brought down more from the mountain above, threatening a full cave in. But the mad woman didn’t care. She kept bouncing back and forth with explosive leg kicks alone.

Jack kept juking around, faster and faster, learning to use his immolation and judgment for tighter maneuvers.

Then Jack centered his hatred on removing the mutt. Striking her down was like striking Zarian, even if emotionally.

That reasoning was more than enough for his purity skill to power him up some more. Jack dodged Naomi once again. Then he shot a potent stream of rapid-fire bolts after her.

Each one struck like high explosive missiles, but at a much faster rate and higher temperature.

The barrage of killer bolts followed Naomi to her next jump off spot and slammed down on her. The bolts demolished the wall, turning fallen rubble into slag.

Jack was certain that would knock down Naomi or outright destroy her.

Proving him wrong once again, Naomi crashed out of the hatred barrage by staying with her original plan, even with the wall getting melted and demolished.

She didn’t care. She jumped off with even more power and force. She smashed through bolt after bolt while going at Jack again with barely any reduction in her speed.

Dodging her by a hairbreadth, Jack swerved around her and slashed his sword at her back. He screamed as he attacked, pumping as much star magic and hatred into the cut. He wanted to see her, the mutt of Zarian, cut down for good.

But the damned woman couldn’t stop from being a constant and impossible pain. Somehow, she twisted herself around to face Jack, and while she went backward, she attempted to fend against his powerful and pure sword with a FREAKING KICK.

That was beyond deranged and foolhardy. Who thought they could win by meeting the edge of their bare foot with the edge of a mythical energy blade, which came from a skill that scaled immensely with Jack’s Wonder stat, his traits, and his other skills? By all means, even with her having First Ignition, Jack’s sword should cut her god damn foot off and some.

They clashed midair with a strident and thunderous boom like two bombs meeting head to head, and Jack’s sword, in fact, didn’t cut off her foot.

It was evident that Naomi’s First Ignition was far more powerful than Foodie’s First Ignition, which Jack had trained against.

Naomi’s First Ignition empowered her body so much that her kick smashed away Jack’s Star Sword +3 and sent the Absolute Hater tumbling backward through the air. This was while Naomi had no leverage, no footing, and was flying in the opposite direction.

It was an impossible maneuver that even anime bullshit would find troubling. Yet she pulled it off and made Jack look like a fool once again.

Righting himself with a thrust of immolated judgment, Jack came to a scary realization. They – Zarian – were using Jack. Why else would they keep holding back instead of attacking with all of their people?

Jack wasn’t weak.

He was mythical!

He was above everyone here other than Foodie. Yet, they kept throwing one person at him instead of respecting his power. They were trying to achieve something.

They were using Jack to get Naomi from First Ignition to Second Ignition. Jack didn’t want to believe it, since it made him feel used. But that had to be the truth.

Once again, Zarian was acting in despicable ways to strengthen himself by making his mutts and slaves stronger, hoarding all the power for himself by any means.

Jack couldn’t allow this to happen. Naomi truly needed to die to stop her from achieving the Second Stage of Aura Ignition.

Jack hated to admit it, but Naomi’s First Ignition was so strong, it was far more dangerous than Foodie’s Second Ignition. His Absolute Judgment +2 and his Absolute Purity +2 felt the urgency along with him.

Anything that benefited Zarian had to be stopped. It didn’t matter if it was a mere child offering to get the Dark Lord some coffee. Jack would stop the child and coffee at all costs, one way or another.

Thus, the Absolute Hater waited for Naomi to come to him again like he was a batter on the plate. He’d always preferred pitching, but when he went to bat, he went for the home run.

After two seconds of nothing, Jack’s judgment warned him that waiting was a mistake. The damn woman had changed up things once again.

Jack blasted forward to bring the fight to Naomi.

He jetted through all the billowing clouds of smoke and dust. He found the human inferno of aura standing on the ground, not even looking up at him.

Instead, she was strangely concerned with her own hands, turning them this way and that. She was acting like a child who was rediscovering parts of her body.

All of that seemed wrong to Jack. All of that needed to end.

The Absolute Hater shot himself down like a hate-seeking missile.

He charged up a Star Bolt +3 in his left hand. He boosted the power of his Star Sword +3 to a new tier. His White Immolation Shield +3 drained into his body and focused on making him even more physically stronger and faster.

He pushed down all of his suppression magic on Naomi with Absolute Judgment +2, and he powered up even further with Absolute Purity +2, keeping his hatred true.

He made the most out of all his traits, especially the mythical Chosen of the Ascended Heavens.

He reached a new tier of destructive power and delivered another one-two strike with his sword first followed by a bolt punch. Landing both, regardless of Naomi’s First Ignition, should ensure her death and start the ultimate downfall of Zarian Darkrun at long last.

These attacks were immense and impressive.

But they were useless against Second Ignition Naomi.

The unstoppable black woman used one finger to parry and deflect all of Jack’s strikes from his sword. Then she stepped side-to-side through his volley of bolts.

She reminded Jack of a ridiculous cartoon where fighters powered up and made their hair bigger and shinier to fight stronger enemies. He hated how he was on the receiving end of that.

Hadn’t he powered up enough?

Wasn’t his hatred enough?

Yet, he couldn’t hear himself or achieve anything against Naomi’s Second Ignition.

He could only hear her as she kept speaking with an aura-backed voice.

“I had to grow up a fighter because of how I was raised. I couldn’t trust anybody. All that mattered was me and my success. I went into the Marines thinking that way. And ... I changed. I was already changing before I met Zarian. He made me change a little more. To where I took risks to help others even when that backfires.”

Jack wanted her to shut up badly.

He did everything he could to stop her.

He slashed with large attacks and rapid attacks with his sword. He jetted into the air for some more space before throwing down a bigger and more powerful barrage of bolts.

He immolated the surrounding air with his white shield. He kept trying to assault her sense of power with his judgment. He used his purity to fund his high-energy costs as he got closer and closer to empty.

He did all he could.

Yet Naomi remained undefeated.

I should’ve learned Aura Ignition, Jack realized.

But it hadn’t seemed necessary before.

His mythical class seemed better to focus on, especially with how excellent it was at combat. He’d focused on that and his skills while hunting down whoever he could across the Grimrock Castle Mountains. In between moments of killing adventurers, he fought and beat down Foodie.

With the amount of times he’d defeated Foodie in spars, Aura Ignition seemed like a worthless trick for the desperate and untalented, especially those with less quality classes.

Oh, no. Oh fucking no. What’s the quality of her class? Jack felt mortified.

His judgment answered him.

She was merely epic, two qualities below him.

Jack screamed with rage, horror, and embarrassment. He couldn’t hear his own scream, but he knew it was loud and pitiful.

That was okay as long as he could use these negative emotions as fuel for the fires of his hatred. But ... for some reason ... his hatred didn’t burn as hot as it should.

It took him a split second to realize he made another mistake. Jack had lost his focus from striking at Zarian by any means to hating Naomi specifically.

His hatred became impure. His power dropped significantly. He couldn’t move well enough. He became a sitting duck as Naomi jumped through the barrage of weakened attacks.

She reached him before he could react properly and grabbed him violently by the hair on her upward rise, her fingers gripping right down to the scalp.

The force of her launch was so powerful they flew straight toward the cavern ceiling, with Jack screaming as he was yanked along, his scalp burning, his every effort to break free turning futile.

With a single upward thrust of her palm, Naomi struck the cavern ceiling and blew out of the way an immense amount of rock, stone, and castle parts. She reached the surface where the suns fell toward the western horizon on the last part of their daily arc.

Gradually, Naomi slowed, but not by much. They kept rising as she talked down to him.

“I could’ve been you,” she said, clucking her tongue. “I am like you. I still have hatred. I’m still insecure and desperate. But ... I would rather devote this body of mine to something bigger than all that. To help my friends and those who need it. And ... to give a certain someone an actual challenge. That’s what this body of mine is for, and I like that for myself.”

Finally, they reached the apex of their rise. Jack felt weaker and weaker. Naomi’s Second Ignition felt more condensed, more in control, more potent.

She let him go as they faced off amid the blocky clouds.

There was a serene expression on her face.

That expression scared Jack.

His mother had the same look on her face when she raised the hot clothing iron.

“Don’t hurt me,” Jack pleaded, his ears healing at last. He could hear how pathetic he sounded, which practically broke him.

“Shush now. I’m done with you, and I need to take a dump.” She reached over and flicked him on the forehead.